San Diego Mesas

So where do you go after San Diego? Home perhaps, or that is what I plan to do with my vacation time. Visit friends and family and spend lots of time with that grand baby of mine.

"You have a grand baby?" asks a co-worker. She looks to be about an age between my two older daughters.

"Yes", I reply.

"Gosh, you must really be old" she says.

"Thanks for that" I reply.

"Oh no. I don't mean it in a bad way. You just don't look to be that old." she finishes.

I do, but don't act it. That's what throws people off. Still waiting to grow up and act my age. Maybe another grand baby, and I'll finally have arrived.

I have recently lost 15 pounds and targeting a few more to go before hitting my ideal wait. I found it wasn't as easy to be bouncy with the extra pounds.

San Diego has lots of hills, called mesas and so I decided to take up my routine of hill sprints; a somewhat impractical habit while living on the flat beach.

I found a suitable ascent of between 50 and 75 yards nearby the house, just a short bike ride actually, and walked down the hill. I then sprint up the hill as fast as I can to the top and take a few minutes to rest and catch my breath before walking back down and doing it for a total of three times.

Afterwards I get back home to Mary and collapse on the sofa, my skin is clammy with sweaty chills, my chest feels like it could explode and I feel like I could hurl all over the place. Classic symptoms of a heart attack.

Two days later, I approach the same hill, but only this time I jog up.

Six Months Off, a Review

I been reading a book called “Six Months Off” whose premise is that it may not be as hard to take a six month sabbatical as you might think.  The book was written in the mid-90’s, and in today’s times many are forced on sabbaticals anyway.  The book also makes suggestions on what you could do with your six months off, mostly to explore something that you wish you had done.

 

Here is where the book caused me to reflect when the authors said; “…life’s regrets are rarely those things we did, but mostly things we never tried to do.”  So I went back and looked over the suggestions of things a person could accomplish with six months off and few limitations in regards to finances or location…let’s see, learn Spanish in a small town in Mexico, spend time volunteering with a forestry group in the wilderness, hiking the Great Pacific Trail from Mexico to Canada.   

 

I closed my eyes, relaxed and gave it some thought, but none of the ideas really appealed to me.  Call me boring if you will, but I am quite happy doing the traveling that I am. 

 

I am living the life that I had dreamt of for many years.  In a nutshell, here it is.  Live like a local, who’s from afar.

 

So while I currently reside in California I have not yet made it to the northern vineyards.  Mary and I considered it; but we didn’t want to miss out on the great weather at the beach.  Besides, why leave the tourist destination that now makes our home just to visit another that may one day be our next home? 

 

The chapter about approaching your employer for the six months off was an easy one for me to just pass over.  That is one nice thing about travel assignments, if you want an extended vacation after your assignment is completed there is nothing stopping you. 

 

I am grateful for the book in helping me realize that the things I would most regret not having accomplished aren’t the things that require location, but rather my own efforts, such as learning to speak another language. 

 

So while Mary and I continue to explore San Diego I am hoping to explore and embark on removing regrets from my life that don’t require world travel, just time and effort on my part.

I know, I know, Peep roasts have nothing to do with travel nursing.

The Peep roast has been a five year tradition in my family and is worth sharing though and if you haven't had an opportunity to visit the sight, I reccomend it.  

Easter has now passed and the Peeps are quickly dissapearing, so for next year consider ditching the egg hunt and try the Peep roast.

I am such a big advocate of the Easter Peep roast; I bought the web site.   www.peeproast.com

Lessons Learned

The sun has set for the day and I am outside in our new patio; as Mary has kicked me out of the inside living area while she unpacks… something to do with not needing advice and getting more done with me out of the way.

So I sit with a cool beverage nearby and enjoy my new surroundings taking a moment or two, and pondering lessons learned in the last few weeks.

There is a time to be serious with work and a time to play.

I will keep this lesson close to me. When I am working I will remember to keep work serious and have fun only when it is appropriate. Something I would have thought at my age I would already have figured out but the "big kid" in me sometimes forgets; but no longer, thanks Theresa.

Look for your own housing.

The home we enjoyed at the beach was simply fantastic; it made travel work feel like a true vacation. If all you are looking for is simply a job, then I suppose this advice isn't needed and you might as well take what an agency finds you, but if you choose to enjoy life outside of the job, then take a little time and effort to find your own home. In earlier posts I have written suggestions and ideas to locating your own home.

Currently we are in a much smaller home than what we enjoyed at the beach, but San Diego doesn't come cheap, and what we lost in square footage we have gained by the activities of the neighborhood.

We are in a much more central location, just a short bike ride to the San Diego Zoo, and only fifteen minutes from Sea World, and the airport, the hospital is nearby too. The proximity of cafe's and shops from our front door is literally just steps away.

Be flexible but bend in the direction you want to go.

Nursing is all about being flexible, whether it be in the shift we are working, patient load or how we deliver care. This time though, I decided to be flexible in the direction I wanted to travel and let the travel agencies bend in my direction.

Prior to receiving an assignment I made it clear to recruiters that since we were not yet ready for Hawaii, I was game for San Diego California or I was going home. Now while this doesn't sound very flexible I also wasn't so fixed on how I got there, and that included speaking with multiple recruiters with about ten different agencies.

I had certainly given the company I had been working with every first chance, but when they made it clear that San Diego positions were not available I turned particularly towards larger companies and especially those based locally. That move paid off.

New Nursing Job

View of our new courtyard

I hang up the phone in awe of the conversation I just completed with a nurse manager. "Am I blessed or what?" I ask myself, but I am starting in the middle of the story, allow me to get back to the beginning.

As I have mentioned in a couple of previous postings, the economy has not sparred nurses, particularly travel nursing.

"Not many positions available", is what I kept hearing from nurse recruiters, as well as sage advice along with hiring tips. Every recruiter I spoke with had the same story, without exception of how difficult the hiring environment is. For every job posted there is like fifty to a hundred applicants and the ball is in the nurse manager's court.

Mary and I decided to return home for Missouri and take care of some business there as well as clean more stuff out of the house. We will wait out for our next position there, we planned. At least spring is on the way and nice weather would still be in our future, not to mention getting to spend some grandbaby time with Lydia.

I conveyed our general plan to recruiters. It's San Diego or we go home, were my words for every recruiter, as I batted away offers for Reno, Florida, and some forgotten named town near the Baja Desert. Mary and I were not in a position to have to take an offer just to keep a paycheck going so I stood my ground.

"Besides"; I thought "this past assignment didn't come in till just the week before I was ready to leave, and that was during a much better employment time than the current one."

Rumors got back to me from a couple of recruiters that positions in San Diego might be opening up and I was agreeable to the possibility but still remained on course to return home. Then a call came asking to schedule a phone interview; I wasn't even sure which recruiter to thank!

The interview went well and I was offered a day position for six months, so now I am back to where I began…about me being in awe.

I worked out an agreeable stipend with the travel company and Mary and I just returned from San Diego after a housing search, which is worthy of mentioning that housing is very expensive in San Diego.

We leased a very cute two bedroom duplex in South Park right in the middle of restaurants, boutiques, bistros and a coffee shop directly behind us. A big plus for me! The houses are quite old but community is very young; rarely did I see anyone over forty, making me the "old guy" of the neighborhood.

The "feel" of the area is very low key and comfortable, as well as safe, the hospital is only a fifteen minute drive and the San Diego Zoo is a ten minute bike ride. Mary and I are going to like it a lot.

So how did I manage to pull off San Diego? I honestly don't know at this point and the weeks have been flying by so fast I haven't had opportunity to break it down yet.

The job, the housing; I am still in awe.

Tough Times Comes to Nursing

"I would never tell a recruit what to do" says a nurse recruiter on the phone, "but I would strongly urge you to include getting a Texas and Florida nursing license if you want to keep working", she continues.

I hold the phone to my ear thinking I can't believe what I'm hearing. I have just obtained a Washington State and Hawaii license as well as the Missouri and California licenses I already have. Yet now I better prepare to include two more?

Mary and I are most interested in traveling in warm weather states, but doesn't that include most states in May, June and July? Why Florida in the summer? That exceeds my idea of warm and moves closer to the swealtry weather that will melt me like an ice cube on pavement.

Could nursing positions be opening up in Florida for the summer be because nobody really wants to live there that time of year? If so, why would I?

Such is the state of travel nursing these days. The ball has moved to the hospital's side of the court and nurses are left to being even more flexible, and willing to improve our skills. This is not to say that it is the hospitals fault, as they too are being crunched by insurance and government agencies as well as shrinking patient census and dwindling reimbursement.

Just the other day I was filling out an application and realized there were absolutely no department managers left in my recent work/travel assignments, and in the case of CEO's two have also been replace. The health care business is transforming and travel nurses will have to change with it.

A nurse educator recently asked me to tell other nurses what I am learning, that the job situation is getting tighter than it has been in the past few years, and bucking new charting and procedures with the idea that they can just move to another hospital isn't true anymore.

So what is a travel nurse like me to do?

A travel nurse is always thirteen weeks from the unemployment line.

As we become accustomed to the idea, we learn not to panic or despair. Our skills are still in demand and we have options. So we keep our filed licenses, and certifications up to date, we remain flexible, and consider alternatives as opportunities.

Considering that thirteen weeks is not far from being unemployed successful travel nurses never live paycheck to paycheck. They are good stewards of their wages and learn to build a safety net. In so doing they have patience to bide their time for the next assignment instead of making moves of regrettable desperation.

Travel nurses build and rely on relationships.

We are constantly building and relying on relationships, recruiters, neighbors, forums online, coworkers. Travelers are some of the most connected people in the healthcare system as we expand our personal network to help create new opportunities and garner more information sources.

An example for Mary and I was when we mentioned to some neighbors that we will have a week of no home before my assignment ends. They insisted that we stay in their vacation home on the beach. Well gosh, hate to turn that down.

Another couple may be stationed soon in Naples, that's Naples Italy. They made it very clear to Mary and I that we have an invite. What better a way to spend time looking for a next assignment sipping coffee in Naples?

No doubt about it, if you want to turn travel nursing from a job on the road to an exciting life style, be a constant bridge builder.

 

So what are Gary and Mary doing?

We are talking to recruiters, filling out apps and getting that Texas license. The weather in Southern California is turning nicer and we have had a stream of visitors passing through from our home state of Missouri, including my grandbaby and daughter.

My contract ends the first week of April, and I can honestly say I won't mind it if the next doesn't start until the first of May, giving Mary and I time to choose our best next opportunity.

 

 

 

Tough Times, What Will You Do?

Over the past several years I have met people that were having a difficult financial time and they would impress upon me how hard the times were. I often replied that the hard times aren't here yet, and that those days were in fact the "good times" and they should be storing up for the really hard times to come. It appears that time has come.

Hard times are upon the nursing industry as well. Last week I posted an article reflecting this problem (you can check on the link here). A conversation with a recruiter or two will clue you in that the jobs available last year at this time have all but disappeared. Recent conversations with other travel nurses have also reflected the emotional concern of where will we be working after our assignment has ended.

So what is a travel nurse to do?

I thought I might answer this question by offering up what I personally have done. Not to say that my personal situation will work for everyone, and not even to say that what I have done will work for me. Time will reveal if it has or not.

I will answer the above question by answering three questions;

What have I done?

Mary and I held a vision of the life we wanted to live as travelers and knew that we needed to be debt free. After closing on a couple of properties we accomplished this and also sold most of our belongings in order to fit in a small house. We didn't need much as we knew we would rarely be "home".

We both kept in mind that the journey is to be valued, not material stuff. This made it easier in determining what stayed and what was left behind, it also help me resolve leaving loved ones and friends.

Since making this decision we live in a neighborhood filled with multimillion dollar homes that includes a wonderful view of the ocean. We don't own much but we don't owe anyone either, nor do we have the hassle of upkeep and maintenance.

What am I doing?

Just this week I will be sending in applications for Hawaii and Washington state licenses in order to cast a larger net for job opportunities in areas that Mary and I are most interested.

In the meantime, we are keeping options open for opportunities that we might not have before considered. Just recently, a friend was asking about our interest in Naples, Italy; another friend has taken up residence in Mexico. We are ruling nothing out.

Most importantly I have been keeping a presence of mind by keeping the headline news in perspective; remembering they promote news to increase readership or viewership, and nothing works better than fear.

I remind myself that I am a travel nurse, not tied down to employment at one hospital or even one state. I am mobile and can move to places of opportunity, and they can be anywhere in the country.

What will I do?

When my ship comes in I want to be able to buy the ticket and regardless of the economic trouble we face I will do my best to be prepared. I will be open to new possibilities and a willingness to imagine a way of life I may have not considered before.

I am a travel nurse and my bags will be packed for the next assignment.

What will you do?